Lost & Found

July '06

Feature Article from Hemmings Classic Car

The Amerikan Oto Show
We all know about the enduring popularity of 1950s American cars in Cuba, but who ever knew the Turks loved them so much?
Bernard Snyder, of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, took a motor trip last year along the Mediterranean coast of Turkey and wrote us with his findings.
"Near the village of Ortaca, my traveling companions and I came upon an interesting surprise," he wrote. "It was a car lot called the 'Amerikan Oto Show.' In it were nearly a hundred vintage trucks and automobiles. They were mostly Fifties in varying states of disrepair. I must say the restorations were somewhat short of professional, but that wasn't due to lack of enthusiasm on the part of the Turkish craftsmen."
The top on the 1957 Chevrolet looks odd to us, but the residents' penchant for cutting the tops off sedans, as the other photos showed, might go a long way toward explaining it.
Barrels and Solids
Though you can't see much of his face, that's Donald Arthur's Great-Uncle Joe in the driver's seat. However, Arthur, of Sherwood, Wisconsin, has no idea what make of car Joe drove that day.
"This photo dates back to the 1920s or early '30s," Arthur said. "I remember seeing the car in a one-horse barn behind their house in 1940. It was in excellent condition. Can anyone identify the car?"
The barrel headlamps, front bumper and disc wheels might help pin it down, but we particularly find the padded top on the car interesting. Did it start out as a touring and at some point have this top, possibly an accessory, installed? The windshield posts and pillar immediately to the left of Joe look rather temporary, versus an actual closed car's permanence.
Curved-Dash Olvera
Bob Grassi, of Tucson, Arizona, recently sent us a picture of a car he spotted and a fantastic story that went with it.
"The car was a 1903 Olvera," Grassi said. "The owner told me it was made in Mexico at a factory run by a group of Mormons that had immigrated south of the border. He stated that the car resembled the Olds because Olds was licensing or sending cars across the border at that time."
We have to question, though, whether the Olvera is the product of turn-of-the-century Oldsmobile licensing or of the brief mid-1950s replica craze that snagged us before in this column (see HCC #8). Oldsmobile did build cars under license at the time in Germany under the names Polymobil and Ultramobil, so it could have feasibly licensed the curved-dash design to a company in Mexico, predating NAFTA by about 90 years.
On the other hand, the Olvera currently runs a 1950s-era Kohler 10hp engine and electric light bulbs in those lamps. Unless somebody retrofitted those two items--and we have no idea why, considering this won't exactly see everyday use--we'd tend to agree with the CDO replica theory. Any input?
Recently discovered a unique or noteworthy classic car? Let us know. Photographs, commentary, questions and answers should be submitted to Lost and Found, c/o Hemmings Classic Car, P.O. Box 196, Bennington, Vermont 05201; e-mail: dstrohl@hemmings.com

This article originally appeared in the July, 2006 issue of Hemmings Classic Car.